22 new COVID-19 cases confirmed in Waterloo Region; hospitalizations, ICU admissions rise

Waterloo -

Health officials in Waterloo Region logged 22 more COVID-19 cases on Monday as hospitalizations rose slightly.

Monday's new cases bring the region's total lab-confirmed infections to 18,199, including 17,718 resolved, 280 deaths and 192 active cases.

Meanwhile, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 rose by four in the past 24 hours. There are now 27 people in area hospitals with the disease. Of those, 16 are receiving treatment in area intensive care units, an increase of three from Sunday's report.

Since the pandemic began, health officials have confirmed 4,404 variant of concern cases in Waterloo Region.

Waterloo Region's variant breakdown is as follows:

• 3,122 are the Alpha variant, first identified in the United Kingdom and originally known as B.1.1.7
• 20 are the Beta variant, originally detected in South Africa and previously referred to as B.1.315
• 96 are the Gamma variant, initially discovered in Brazil and labelled as P.1
• 905 are the Delta variant, first found in India and previously called B.1.617
• 261 cases have had a mutation detected, but have not yet had a variant strain confirmed

On Sunday, health partners across Waterloo Region administered 3,586 COVID-19 vaccine doses on Sunday – the lowest daily total since May 30.

Over the weekend, Waterloo Region passed the 700,000-mark for vaccine doses administered. Some 703,799 jabs have now been put into arms since the vaccine rollout began.

More than 80.5 per cent of the eligible population have received one dose, while more than 58.8 per cent of residents 12 and older are fully immunized.

Across Ontario, health officials logged 130 COVID-19 cases and zero deaths on Monday.

Fewer than 200 new daily infections have been reported for eleven straight days.

With files from CTV Toronto.